Council elections – blue surge as horse trading lies ahead

Major surge by the Tories saw them increase their number of councillors by 164 from 2012, to 276. Now the largest party in six councils – Aberdeenshire, Dumfries & Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Perth & Kinross, Scottish Borders and South Ayrshire.

SNP has performed at the lower end of expectations, losing 7 seats when compared with 2012 and currently stands at 431. Despite being the largest party in Glasgow, Edinburgh and 16 other councils, it has lost overall control of Dundee and Angus

Labour has lost 133 councillors compared with 2012, currently standing at 262 and losing overall control of West Dunbartonshire and South Lanarkshire.

Greens and Liberal Democrats flatline.

(due to boundary changes changes in councillor numbers are based on notional outcomes for 2012)

Well, the votes are in and counted and the 1,227 councillors elected across 353 wards in 32 local authorties. You knew it was going to be a good day for the Conservatives when they picked up a Council seat in Gordon Brown’s backyard of Cowdenbeath and other previous no-go areas such as the Highlands and Glasgow.

The Conservatives have indeed made significant gains when compared to the last elections in 2012 and look set to leapfrog the Labour Party in terms of councillor numbers

With elections in Scotland now seen through the prism of the constitutional question, it is only natural that this has been a key focus of each and every election since the independence referendum of 2014. It was inevitable given this and their strong anti-independence, anti-referendum rhetoric, that it was the Conservatives who were set to make strong gains through tactical voting, at the expense of both the SNP and to a greater extent the Labour Party.

There are now dilemmas across the country, with many councils such as Clackmannanshire, Aberdeen and Edinburgh witnessing the SNP as being the largest party as the Tories gain and Labour lose, but with the need to form a coalition or a method of governing.

A weekend and further days of horse-trading now lie ahead in Councils where parties have failed to achieve an overall majority and in which there is currently no overall control. With the SNP pledged not to form coalitions with the Conservatives, there could be some interesting alliances forged, which may see SNP, despite having the largest number of councillors still lose out to a pro-Unionist alliance

Party

Councils

+/- since 2012

Seats

+/- since 2012

SNP

-3

431

-7

Conservatives

276

+164

Labour

-3

262

-133

Liberal Democrat

67

-3

Greens

19

+5

Independent

3

172

-26

UKIP

No overall control

29

+5

Individual Councils – numbers in brackets refer to 2012 results

Council

SNP

Labour

Cons

Lib Dem

Greens

Ind

Control

Aberdeen City

19 (+3)

9 (-9)

11 (+8)

4 (-1)

0

0

No overall control

Aberdeenshire

21 (-8)

1 (-1)

23 (+9)

14 (+2)

0(-1)

10 (-2)

No overall control

Angus

9 (-6)

0 (-1)

8 (+5)

2 (+1)

0

9 (+1)

No overall control

Argyll & Bute

11 (-2)

0

9(+5)

6(+2)

0

10 (-5)

No overall control

Clackmannanshire

8 (-)

5 (-3)

5 (+4)

0

0

0 (-1)

No overall control

Dumfries and Galloway

11 (-)

11 (-1)

16 (+3)

1 (-)

0

4 (-2)

No overall control

Dundee City

14 (-2)

9 (-1)

3 (+2)

2 (+1)

0

1 (-)

No overall control

East Ayrshire

14 (-1)

9 (-5)

6 (+4)

0

0

3 (+2)

No overall control

East Dunbartonshire

7 (-1)

2 (-5)

6 (+4)

6 (+3)

0

1 (-2)

No overall control

East Lothian

6 (-3)

9 (+1)

7 (+4)

0

0

0 (-2)

No overall control

East Renfrewshire

5 (-1)

4 (-2)

7 (+2)

0

0

2 (+1)

No overall control

City of Edinburgh*

19 (-2)

12 (-9)

18 (+7)

6 (+3)

8 (+1)

No overall control

Falkirk

12 (-1)

9 (-4)

7 (+)

0

0

2 (-1)

No overall control

Fife

29 (+4)

24 (-10)

15 (+12)

7 (-3)

0

0 (-3)

No overall control

Glasgow City

39 (+8)

31 (-16)

8 (+7)

7 (+3)

0 (-1)

0 (-1)

No overall control

Highland*

22 (+3)

3 (-5)

10 (+10)

10 (-4)

1 (+1)

28 (-5)

No overall control

Inverclyde

7 (-)

8 (-3)

2 (+1)

1 (-1)

0

4 (+3)

No overall control

Midlothian

6 (-2)

7 (-1)

5 (+5)

0

0 (-1)

0 (-1)

No overall control

Moray

9 (-1)

1 (-2)

8 (+5)

0

0

8 (-2)

No overall control

Na h-Eileann Siar

7 (+1)

0 (-3)

1 (+1)

0

0

23 (+1)

Ind Hold

North Ayrshire

11 (-4)

11 (-2)

7 (+6)

0

0

4 (-)

No overall control

North Lanarkshire*

33 (+3)

32 (-12)

10 (+10)

0

0

2 (-1)

No overall control

Orkney

0

0

0

0

1 (+1)

20 (-1)

Ind Hold

Perth & Kinross

15 (-2)

1 (-3)

17 (+7)

4 (-1)

0

3 (-1)

No overall control

Renfrewshire

19 (+2)

13 (-11)

8 (+7)

1 (-)

0

2 (+2)

No overall control

Scottish Borders

9 (-)

0

15 (+5)

2 (-4)

0

8 (-1)

No overall control

Shetland

1 (+1)

22 (-1)

Ind Hold

South Ayrshire

9 (+2)

5 (-4)

12 (+2)

0

0

2 (-)

No overall control

South Lanarkshire

27 (+1)

22 (-10)

14 (+10)

0

1 (-)

0 (-1)

No overall control

Stirling

9 (-1)

4 (-4)

9 (+5)

0

1 (-)

0

No overall control

West Dunbartonshire

10 (+3)

8 (-3)

2 (+2)

0

0

2 (-2)

No overall control

West Lothian

13 (-2)

12 (-4)

7 (+6)

0

0

1 (-1)

No overall control

*Boundary changes have occurred here. 2012 seats are an estimate of what the result would have been then if the new boundaries had been in place.